Gortyn Górtys

One km/.75mi beyond Áyii Déka are the remains of ancient Gortys (Gortyn), once the rival of Knossos and later chief town of the Roman province of Creta Cyrenaica, which survived until the coming of the Saracens in A.D. 826. In an olive-grove on the left of the road can be seen the foundations of the temple of Apollo Pythios, the palace of the Roman governor, with a bath- house (A.D. second century), a theater, an amphitheater and a 374m/1,227ft long circus. 500m/550yd farther on, on the right, at the foot of the acropolis, are the ruins of the sixth century church of Áyios Titos, an ancient theater and a building, converted into an odeum (concert hall) in Roman times, on which is inscribed the Code of Gortyn, a legal code of around 450 B.C. The code is written "boustrophedon" (i.e. as the ox ploughs, with alternate lines running left to right and right to left).